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How to start your own paper recycling business
HOW TO START YOUR OWN PAPER RECYCLING BUSINESS
One of the easiest - and in fact one of the oldest ways of making
extra money - is by collecting old newspapers and selling them to a
recycling plant in your locale.
Believe it or not, you can develop a very respectable income
collecting and selling paper to the recycling centers. It certainly
does not take any education, specialized training or experience;
it's as simple as saving your old newspapers and turning them in to
a central collection depot.
Some "paper recyclers" are making more than $100,000 a year in this
business. If other people are doing it, then there's no reason you
can+t do it! About the only equipment you'll need is a pickup truck
or trailer that you can pull along behind your personal car. One
"old timer" who was found collecting paper in his area with a
pushcart! While interviewing him, it was found that he was
deliberately choosing not to expand, although he very definitely
could have.
The prices being paid for paper these days by the recycling centers
will astound you (and remember that the quotations we give here may
have escalated sharply since our research). For instance, old news
papers are commanding $50 per ton and more; used cardboard, $75 a
ton; and high grade office paper as much as $120 per ton. This kind
of money for used paper that you can generally pick up for free can
move you onto Easy Street in a hurry. Everything, of course,
depends on how well organized you are, and how hard you work at
building your business.
Make no mistake about it, we live in a paper world. Americans use
200 million tons of paper each year - for everything from daily
newspapers to books and cardboard boxes. After quick use, we throw
away at least 100 million tons of this paper, almost all of which
could be recycled. This means that there's about 8 billion dollars
worth of paper out there that can be collected and recycled each
year. So if you are looking to start a business with real profit
potential, what are you waiting for?
Just look around your own home. In the garage or basement, for
instance. What do you do with the old newspapers after you've read
them? How about all the mail you get each week? Chances are this
waste paper just piles up in some corner of the garage or basement
until one of the kids asks if he can haul it off for the school or
cub scout paper drive. Or maybe your wife and kids get ambitious
some weekend, clean out the garage and haul it all off to the
collection truck at one of the local shopping centers. (We said
maybe!)
It's true that selling stacks of newspapers you've accumulated
during the past couple of months or so won't make you rich. In
fact, it's doubtful your own accumulation of paper will add up to a
ton a year, and that certainly won't amount to much in extra income.
But think about the tonnage involved in the stacks of old newspapers
you could collect from your relatives, friends and neighbors. You
could easily collect a l00-pound sack of old newspapers from the
people in your neighborhood each week - and that's your immediate
neighborhood.
And then think about the total extra income you would have when you
have hauled all this paper down to the recycling depot. If you're
serious, and get yourself properly prepared, you can easily make
$300 or more every weekend, and it won't involve all your time.
Some planning and effort on your part are the prime requisites.
Start by clearing a space in your garage for storage. One side of a
two-car garage, or any 8 by 12 foot space should be sufficient. If
you have a garden shed that's dry, that would work well also. Some
paper collectors even rent space in a neighborhood mini-warehouse.
We've even seen some paper collectors store their collected paper on
pallets in their backyards, using tarpaulins over it to keep it dry.
The important thing is to have a space available to store your
collected paper until you're ready to haul it to the recycling
depot.
Being a firm believer in doing as little as possible of the physical
work involved in any business, I recommend you hire people to do a
lot of this for you. By that I mean you should contact all the cub
scouts, girl scouts, and civic organizations in your area; tell them
you'll pay them money for the paper they collect and turn in to you.
At the same time, contact the counselors at the schools and colleges
in your area and tell them you'll pay them for all the paper they
collect. The idea is to get everyone in your area collecting paper
for you, eliminating the need to do the actual collecting yourself.
How much of the gross profit you allow or pay these people who do
the actual collection is up to you. The average rate is $25 to $30
per ton when you are getting $50 per ton.
In the beginning, you may have to make up a sign and tape it to the
side of your pick-up or car, and "pound the pavement" yourself, but
you would expect to do this in starting any business. Basically,
there's nothing to this excepting that it takes time you could be
using to do other things; but is there anything more important than
getting your new business "off the ground?"
A simple sign such as JOE'S PAPER RECYCLING SERVICE - Phone
123-4567, is about all that's necessary. You could have this made
up on a magnetic mat at most quick print shops. Have a college art
student make one up for you on butcher paper, or have a professional
sign painter produce one for you on heavy card stock.
With this sign on the side of your pickup, car, or trailer, simply
drive through the residential neighborhoods of your area. Park in
the middle of a block, get out and start knocking on doors, asking
the residents if they have old newspapers or cardboard boxes they'd
like for you to haul away for them. Generally, you'll get an armload
of old newspapers at every house. Simply carry them to your pickup
or trailer, then go on to the next house.
If you'll set up a definite route to follow, certain streets on
certain days about once every two weeks, you'll find the homeowners
will have stacks of paper waiting for you. Regardless of whether
the person answering the door gives you a stack of papers, always
leave a business card at each home.
Some paper recyclers offer to pay the people saving newspapers for
them, and having it ready for them when they make their collection
rounds. Generally, this isn't necessary. If you'll develop
regular collection days for each street or neighborhood, you'll find
the people putting papers out for you just as they set out their
garbage for collection.
There are even some paper recyclers who charge the people to haul
their paper away. This isn't advisable, because once you start
hauling rubbish, you'll end up doing clean-up work, and hauling more
to the dump than you do to the recycling depot.
Once you have your collection routes organized, you can hire
students to make your collection rounds after school, and haul the
paper to your storage center. You can set up crews of three - one
to drive the truck or car while the others knock on doors on each
side of the street.
Depending on how much paper each route gives you every two weeks,
you could have a crew working several routes each day for minimum
wage, probably so much per truck or trailer load, and expect to
collect a couple of tons of paper for every three hours they work.
Again, by hiring other people to do the actual collection work for
you, you'll not only free yourself for other work, but you'll be
making more money: Three people can do more in less time than one
person.
The next thing is to set up an area-wide collection depot. This
could be a pre-fab building on a vacant lot, a vacant used car lot,
or a closed service station.
In setting up an area-wide (or neighborhood) collection depot, you
will need space - some sort of shed to store or stack your papers in
until you load them up and haul them to the recycling center where
you sell them. You'll need a scale to weigh them, and some sort of
office or desk space to manage your cash and books.
You'll need space enough for your customers to drive in beside the
scale and unload their papers, and at the same time an arrangement
whereby you can pay them immediately. A vacant service station would
be ideal. Your customers can pull in just as if they were going to
purchase gasoline; you could have your scales set up between the
driveways where the gas pumps are usually located, and store your
accumulating loads in the service area of the building.
In most cities or counties, you'll need a business license or
permit. For more details, see our report, Basic Steps To Starting
Your Own Business.
You'll need a couple of signs, one on each side of your driveway.
These will announce the fact that you buy old newspapers. They need
not be anything fancy, just simple attention-getting announcements
that you're open for business and paying money for paper.
Generally, the going rate for newspapers dropped off at a central
collection depot is $.02 per pound, and the papers need not be
bundled. This will give the sellers $40 a ton for dropping them
off, and at $50 a ton, that will work out to $10 per ton profit for
you. (Again, these rates are rising, so be sure you are absolutely
current by checking out the going price in your area.)
In addition to old newspapers, you should organize your time and
schedule to call upon all the businesses, stores and warehouses in
your area. Talk to the business owners or store managers and ask
them if you can haul away their old cardboard boxes.
If there's competition in your area, you might end up having to pay
for these boxes, provided they're clean. The thing to do is to call
upon everybody who uses paper products or cardboard boxes.
Remember, the more people you have giving you paper, the more money
you are going to make. Many already established recycling services
do not bother with the smaller stores and warehouses, but these add
up quickly if you are diligent in finding a number of them.
Check close by in your surrounding area, and find out if the
businesses are satisfied with their present pick-up service. Ask
first if you can "have" their old boxes; many of the smaller stores
will give them to you because it decreases the load for their
rubbish service to haul away. Where necessary, offer to pay per
pound if they'll save them for you.
As mentioned before, the important thing is to get everyone
providing paper for you - people collect and have it ready for you
to pick up when you drop by on your designated collection day.
Besides that, you start making really big money when you can park
your truck in one place and fill it up from a group of closely
located stores or businesses. With this is mind, you could
conceivably drive through four blocks, making one stop in the middle
of each block, and have a ton or more of paper or cardboard boxes
every fourth block.
One other thing you'll need in order to efficiently handle cardboard
boxes is a sharp knife with which to slit the sides of the boxes and
flatten them Out as you load them onto your truck or trailer. A
simple "handyman's utility knife" costing about $5 will handle this
chore for you with ease. When you buy one, though, be sure to buy
an extra supply of blades as well, because cutting through cardboard
will dull your knife very quickly.
Another paper products source: the offices in your area,
particularly those with computers. The age of computers has ushered
in more reports for offices than ever before, adding reams and reams
of paper to the average office trash basket. When you visit these
offices, take along a couple of "Save-a-Tree" boxes and ask the
office people to discard all their waste paper into these boxes for
you - letters, envelopes, outdated reports and files. You can
usually get the "Save-a-Tree" boxes at your recycling depot, and
when full, we're talking about 35 to 45 pounds of paper. Most
offices will fill one of these boxes in a week or two, depending, of
course, upon their volume of paperwork. And while you+re on this
kind of "foraging" trip, don't forget to check in at all the print
shops. They waste and throw away almost as much paper as they sell.
It will pay you to contract for a quarter page ad, or the largest ad
available that you can afford, in the yellow pages of your area
telephone and business directories. Whether or not you advertise
the prices you pay in the ad is entirely up to you, but generally
it's not a good idea to do so, because you would be stuck with those
rates for over a year. You might word your ad to explain that you
pay one rate per pound when paper is brought to you, and another
rate when you pick up and haul away.
At the same time, you should run a regular classified ad, perhaps
even one with more words in the Contract Jobs section of your daily
paper. Your best advertising days will be Thursday through
Saturday. These are the days when people are specifically thinking
about cleaning up around the house or their offices. Also, these are
the days when people think about what they can do to earn extra
money.
This is the kind of business that "snowballs" with visibility and
word-of-mouth advertising. It will definitely benefit you, then, to
join the various civic and service clubs in your area, attend their
luncheons and mingle with the business leaders in your area.
Volunteer to assist in some fund-raising events, and whenever
possible, become a guest speaker and tell about your business.
It isn't hard to stand up before a group of people and talk about
your business, particularly if you know what you're talking about
and believe in what you're saying. It does take at least an outline
of a script, perhaps a few notes, a rehearsal and the essential
ingredient of enthusiasm.
Make your talk interesting and informative. Do some research and
present statistics on how much paper the people of this country use
each year. Explain the limited supply of timber, and the need to
recycle as much as possible. Detail how these facts and figures
opened your eyes, and caused you to do something about it - to open
your own recycling center. And then, lead your talk into explaining
how the recycling business is an avenue for everyone to benefit:
the ideal fund-raising endeavor; a cleaner environment; and a chance
to preserve some forest land.
Getting free publicity for a recycling center can be easy. In
addition to serving as guest speaker before civic and service groups
in your area, you may find radio and television stations and
newspapers, and even weekly shopping guides anxious to give you time
or space.
By all means, try to get a story into these people detailing your
grand opening, follow-up with appearances on talk shows, and press
releases about the different organizations raising money by
collecting newspapers and turning them in to you. Set up a contest
among the different organizations, with prizes for the teams or
organizations collecting the most paper. Hold special "Seniors'
Days" when you pay extra for all paper turned in by persons over a
certain age. Keep an eye out for angles such as the largest amounts
turned in, and stories about your regular collectors who keep
turning in paper regularly until they attain money goals.
Emphasize in your publicity contacts that recycling is a kind of
community service that benefits all citizens. You're cleaning the
environment, conserving timber, and putting money into the pockets
of all who participate. Think about it; submit press releases to
the media; calling them and inviting them to cover human interest
stories emanating from your business!
This business takes organization, some energy on your part, and at
least in the beginning, your time. But if you put forth the effort
as we have outlined, there's no reason you shouldn't easily realize
a very comfortable income with your own RECYCLING BUSINESS. It
takes effort on your part, but if you're looking for a lucrative
business, you have here a plan to act on!
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